Flame Patina Thoughts
Problem
I am pretty unhappy about the colors I developed on the piece for Villa St. Benedict. They are pale, weak, non-vibrant. What went wrong?
I guess I was tired and not thinking clearly.
Also, I over-undulated that design. Smoother undulations catch the light better. The colors are most visible when the eye is 90 degrees to the surface of the metal. They tend to disappear or go dark the more the viewer moves from that 90 degree position.
I think I get the best colors when I rosebud-roast the surface three different colors – light, medium and dark. The VSB piece was only roasted to light and medium.
The surface had been pre-roasted, then allowed to sit for a week. I always seem to have problems with colors when that happens. Why? What is the antidote?
If the metal only sits one day, and is not pre-roasted, then I can usually get great colors. Witness the several open wavy weavings I have done with great colors. Of course, they were flat.
We roasted this weaving to overcome the work-hardening caused by the wire-brushing, so that it would be possible to undulate it.
I guess, the solution is to not wire-brush any piece that is going to be undulated. If wire-brushing is to be done, it should be done afterwards, after the undulating and the back is soldered on.
Solutions
Do not wire-brush any piece that is destined to be undulated.
Better yet - don't wirebrush - do 3M pad swirls on the copper after it is woven and undulated. Use the 3" pad. It takes a long time, but you don't want to try and undulate work-hardened copper. This will remove all scratches and add a beautiful grooving to catch the light.
Flame color a piece as soon as possible after it is roasted - usually no more than 15-30 minutes. It should still be slightly warm.
Rosebud-roast a surface to three different colors – light, medium & dark.
You can tell when a surface has been rosebud-roasted enough by the way colors will appear and stay when the rosebud has passed over them. That is the key.
All ‘violet’ colors need to be heat-changed to blue. Otherwise, they turn transparent when the lacquer hits them.
All clean-metal colors need to be roasted to orange or aqua.
Use Incralac instead of Krylon - you will get better colors.
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